Deputy shoots at vehicle as it rams her car

No one was hurt when an off-duty Harris County sheriff's deputy shot at a vehicle that rammed into her car as she tried to investigate a possible theft early today.

The man driving the car that crashed into the deputy's vehicle was later arrested. Pedro Puente Villasenor, 20, was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and taken to Harris County Jail, sheriff's investigators said.

The incident happened shortly after 1 a.m. today when Deputy Evonnashanta Quinney, an 11-year Harris County Sheriff's Department veteran assigned to the jail division, was notified by her son of a suspicious vehicle near their home, authorities said.

Quinney went to inspect and saw two people in a truck backed up at a house under construction in the 3900 block of Coral Shadows. Sheriff's officials said the pair tried to flee when they saw the deputy.

Quinney thought the pair were going to ram into her vehicle, so she fired at their truck, shooting the pickup's radiator and front grill several times, internal affairs investigators said. The pickup struck Quinney's car, damaging the front left quarter panel. Numerous construction materials in the bed of the fleeing truck fell into the street, along with the truck's tailgate, which came off.

Quinney called 911 and followed the fleeing pair. She saw them stop at a Blockbuster Video store at Texas 6 and Clay Road, where they changed a flat tire. Quinney kept her distance and watched them as she waited for backup from other deputies.

Villasenor was arrested in the parking lot. A 16-year-old girl with him was released to her parents without charges because Villasenor claimed the girl had no idea what he was doing, investigators said.